Ken Griffin is easily one of the most successful hedge fund managers in the world. It is no surprise that his divorce from Anne Dias Griffin carries a hefty price tag.

Divorce settled on the 6th October 2015

They were married in 2003, but apparently they argued over details in their prenup almost until the day of the wedding. According to Ken the argument concerned an addition to the prenup that would enable Anne to leave Chicago with their future children in case of a divorce, moving to New York or San Francisco instead.

Anne and Ken look happy

But Ken was against it and ultimately the line was never added. Whilst Anne later made out that the argument became borderline violent, Ken declared the removal of a bedpost accidental.

One is inclined to believe Ken here, because Anne married him and stayed married to him for the next 11 years, bearing three children in that time. Anne is an educated woman, intelligent and sophisticated and there’s no reason to believe she would marry a man who became violent towards her on the eve of their wedding.

There’s also no reason to believe that she was coerced into signing the prenup or that she didn’t have enough time to go over it with her lawyers. Anne Dias Griffin is not a stupid woman.

In 2012 the couple separated and in 2013 it was Ken Griffin who filed for divorce. He paid Anne the agreed upon sum in their prenup, but Anne wanted more.

Anne and Ken say cheese

Apart from receiving roughly $50 Million as well as their home in Chicago and, of course, child support, Anne soon decided that she wanted to challenge the prenup and demanded $1 Million in monthly child support. For herself she wanted a much larger payment than the money agreed upon as well.

Ken dismissed her demands as a means to fund her luxurious lifestyle and published her monthly expenses, which leaves regular people like us with gaping mouths. Who spends $160,000 for vacation accommodation per month? Who needs $2,000 worth of stationary or a private jet that costs more than $300,000 per month to keep? And what about those $60,000 for staff payments?

And where are the expenses for the children in there?

It would appear that Anne lost all touch with reality and doesn’t know how to live like the rest of us. Apparently she’s founded a few companies of her own, usually thanks to heavy investments by her husband, but none of those ventures were in any way successful.

But what makes her think she is entitled to any of her husband’s estimated net worth of nearly $7 Billion?

Ken says he paid all the expenses for the children since their separation and would happily continue to do so.

Anne and Ken snapped at an event

He sought joint custody with Anne and the children remaining in Chicago, but Anne wanted sole custody in order to take the kids to New York, where she wanted to live. She eventually withdrew that request, which is just as well, because the children have established lives, friends and family (their grandparents) in Chicago and uprooting them wouldn’t have been in their best interest.

Ultimately the two settled their divorce a day after they were first set to appear in court. The timing is interesting, of course. Ken is a very private man and during a public trial, a lot of information would have been made public that he probably wanted to keep private. The same would have to be true for his ex-wife.

At the same time judges very rarely overturn prenups and Anne didn’t have a leg to stand on to begin with. Whilst Ken probably chucked some more money her way in order to end this feud, it’s not likely that she got all that she wanted.

Anne very much comes off as greedy in this divorce and sooner or later her children will read about it online. It doesn’t look as if she has a very good hand for money, which is certainly a good reason to want enough of it to keep afloat for years to come. But it certainly wouldn’t hurt her to adjust her lifestyle a little bit.